Streets of Rogue

Just a quick, light update this week. I’ve been a bit super-busy getting the final level and ending in ship shape. Not sure if that will be ready for next update or not -- it depends on how fast I can get the current optimization project I’m working on completed. Anyways, for now, enjoy this miscellaneous smattering of fixes.

Yep, this update has a whole lotta balance changes for ya, based in part on community suggestions from a recent Fortnight Discussion. I’m also still aggressively fixing bugs. And trying to find some spare moments to work on the final level and ending. Hoping to have those in the game within the next month.

Removed Investment system. Too exploitable. Open to ideas on how to modify the existing system to work better (maybe something that doesn’t involve the player himself gaining money but rather affecting some other aspect of the game), but its current iteration isn’t really working

Achievements

If the player receives an achievement while offline, it will be triggered the next time the game is started

If you kill someone while Invisible, nearby friends of the deceased will search for you and become hostile if they find you

When an invisible player hits an NPC, they will run far away

Vampires are considered Guilty after biting someone

Multiplayer

Fix for issue where if multiplayer host quit the game as a Ghost, they would die immediately upon resuming the game. Now, they start with 1 health

Other

Updated Rewired plugin to version 1.1.18.0.U2017

Internal

Work on final level

Work on new Mutators

Work on new Achievements

Alpha 56b (July 27)

Reverted change where Zombie disaster wouldn’t occur if the player is a Zombie

Kill Ammunizer restores a bit more ammo than before

Shopkeepers sell many more types of items than before

Bushes shake a bit when there is a hidden Cannibal

Chance to Threaten is now affected by the both the player and the other person’s currently held weapon, in addition to team size

Player does not attempt to auto-aim when using Rocket Launcher - The slow movement of the rocket combined with the player’s potential desire to cause an explosion at a certain point made this a more ideal choice

Vocally Challenged players can now speak to questgivers

Ghost Gibber ray is not classified as a “bullet” when calculating bullet resistances

If a Shopkeeper, Bartender etc. is Zombified and one of the players is a Zombie, their marker will remain on the map since the player can now purchase items from them

If the player uses Zombie Phlegm on an NPC and Zombifies them but the player’s party is full, that NPC will still be Aligned

Ham Sandwich is now available in character creation and from the Item Teleporter

Fix for fire from Fire Spewers appearing to travel a bit too far through walls on multiplayer client

Potential fix for giblets sometimes flashing white as soon as they are spit out of pipes

Fix for items on multiplayer client flashing right before they are picked up

Fixed some of the wall top textures for wood walls to look better

All of the lights in a level turn red when a player transforms into a Werewolf instead of just the ambient

Fix for Friend Phone only spawning 1 NPC from multiplayer client

Fix for issues stemming from multiple people falling into a Trap Door at once

Fix for major Train position discrepancies between client and host players

Fix for lights on NPCs blinking off when they are just out of viewFix for bullet lighting for certain types of bullets sometimes appearing darker than it was meant to

Potential fix for Werewolf health appearing too high after transforming back to human form

Removed Chest from easy-to-reach location in one of the Broadcasting Station buildings

Fix for red “thrown item” target moving with the mouse when the game is paused

Alpha 56c (July 28)

Backstab no longer removes 2 seconds from Camouflage

Fix for backstab’s noise being louder than intended

If the player backstab-kills someone or kills them in their sleep, the next hit will not gib that person as it did previously

Fix for Big Quest requirements changing for some characters such as Slavemaster if the last “target” NPC is teleported

As Streets of Rogue inches closer to its planned “late 2018” 1.0 release, this update finds me attempting to jam in a whole bunch of mostly minor new features that have been on my to-do list forever, while also squashing a crapload of bugs. Seriously, read over these patch notes, there’s some pretty cool new stuff buried in here!

This week’s Fortnight Discussion: Your thoughts on a possible “supporter’s edition” of the game, which would be a set of non-essential “DVD Extras” style content for fans.

Alpha 55

Playfield Objects

ATM can be used to store a single item between runs (at a cost)

ATM can be hacked to spit out money

ATM usually has at least 1 Cop guarding it

Investment money can be withdrawn at ATM

Barbecue can now be used to grill Fud and make Hot Fud. Barbecue must be lit first by either a Cigarette Lighter or Flamethrower.

Characters with Diminutive can flush themselves down Toilets, which teleports them randomly to another toilet

Characters can “purge” their current status effects at a Toilet - especially useful if Investment

Banker needs to take some lousy drugs to avoid Withdrawal

Sign added to Office Building to explain how investments work

Player can toss more money down a Well to receive Feelin’ Lucky

If player destroys a Well, they receive Feelin’ Unlucky

Only 1 Well may spawn per level

Satellite can now broadcast Happy Waves, which causes nearby NPCs to become Friendly, provided your character has Tech Expert

Gravestone sometimes spawns money

Fountains removed from the game until I can find a use for them

Turning off security system from Computer will turn off Flame Grates

Quest Switches will attract the player’s auto-aim when they have not yet been pressed

NPC Abilities

Player can talk to Clerk to invest money into “The Company” at the Office Building

Investment money can be withdrawn at Bank Clerk or Office Building Clerk

Player can give blood (health) in exchange for money to Clerks in the Hospital

Clerks at Movie Theater sell hideously overpriced food

Clerks at Hotel will sell anyone a room key

Office Drone can be offered food, drinks and cigarettes as “motivation”, which affects the stock price of The Company in a positive way

If Office Drones are killed, the stock price is affected negatively

Ghosts have somewhat more Strength than previously

Items

Necronomicon added to game - Spawns Zombie followers when near a Graveyard

Hot Fud added, a more nourishing variant of Fud created on the Barbecue

Projectile weapons that don’t do damage such as Tranquilizer Gun will not auto-aim at objects like Explosive Barrels

Projectile weapons will not auto-aim at Ghosts, Holograms, or Invisible NPCs

Four-Leaf Clover affects a lot of things that it didn’t before, basically everything that the new Feelin’ Lucky and Feelin’ Unlucky traits affect

Hotel Clerks now start with Key

Shovel no longer appears in game, at least for the time being

Water Pistol can no longer be stolen by Thief from the player’s inventory

Water Pistol can be used when the No Guns mutator is active, in part because not having it makes it much harder to carry out the Scientist’s Big Quest

Fix (again) for workers in gas-spewing buildings not initially starting with Gas Masks on

Graphics

Shrinker bullets and Freeze Ray bullets no longer look exactly the same

Adjusted brightness in Uptown levels for an easier-to-read look

Fix for bullets not always having correct lighting

Fix for lights not always appearing properly on lamps

Slime Puddles are a bit brighter

UI / Controls

Fix for player being able to shift+click on and drop un-droppable items within certain interfaces

Attempted fix for NPC Info displays appearing when they should not

Fix for incorrect floor number sometimes appearing when loading a saved game while using the Quick Game mutator

Fix for interface not pausing after players 2-4 in local coop complete an optional mission

Status Effects / Traits / Special Abilities

Feelin’ Lucky - Affects your luck in all sorts of endeavors, but you get less lucky as time runs down

Feelin’ Unlucky - The opposite of Feelin’ Lucky

Status text indicates that the Drug Dealer has taken a Syringe

Fix for Shapeshifter becoming a normal-sized creepy naked person after being Zombified, rather than remaining Diminutive

Fix for Slaves who had been freed sometimes exploding after being Depossessed by Shapeshifter

Nimble Fingers and Poor Hand-Eye Coordination will mostly cancel each other out

Missions

On Rescue missions, NPC may ask to be escorted to the Exit instead of the Entrance

Created “flip switches” variant where flipping the first switch activates a timer that causes the quest to fail if the player doesn’t finish quickly enough

Exploding Barrels may appear in buildings as objects to destroy for missions

Optional missions always appear on floor “x-2” of each district

Fix for optional missions not being offered on a number of levels where they were supposed to be

Fix for optional missions not being offered in local 3- and 4-player modes

Fix for incorrect player sometimes getting credit on optional Retrieve missions in local and online coop modes

Optional missions may now be offered by Clerks and Bartenders, in addition to Drug Dealers and Shopkeepers

Big Quests

Fix for issues in Assassin, Vampire, and Gangster Big Quests where Zombified targets would not count as having been Neutralized

Fix for various traits like No In-Fighting affecting the player’s ability to complete certain Big Quests

Fix for Gorilla quest map markers not disappearing after a Gorilla had been rescued

Mutators

Fix for Random Level Districts giving player incorrect districts when they had also chosen mutators to remove certain districts

Changed the name of “Remove Levels” mutators to “Remove District”

Level Generation

Fix for too many Clerks sometimes appearing in one of the Broadcasting Station layouts, and also added armed guards to this layout

Fix for one of the bathrooms in the Uptown gated houses being considered “outdoors” by the game

Fix for the bathroom of one of the City Parks being counted as an considered “outdoors”

Fix for Conveyor Belt not appearing in Mall on Uptown levels

Fix for Saw Blade track not drawing properly in one of the buildings

Fixed instance in one of the buildings where Fire Spewer was placed in such a way that the AI would almost always suck at avoiding it

Fix for instance where a Tube would attempt to spit objects onto a Conveyor Belt, but would be blocked by a Switch

Slightly fewer Vampires and Firefighters are placed into levels than before

Fix for instances where certain walls would appear different on the client than on the host

Some changes to the placement of Office Drones in the world to account for the new Investments system

Artificial Intelligence

Zombie NPCs can no longer pick up weapons

When lunging, Gorilla lunges at the angle at which he began charging up, rather than lunging directly toward his opponent

Cops are more protective of ATMs

If Thief NPC is having too much difficulty stealing from someone, he will give up

Fix for Slum Dweller having difficulty picking up money in certain spots like water

Fix for imprisoned Slum Dweller attempting to grab money that is outside the prison

Fix for Slum Dwellers, Vampires, Cannibals, and Thieves not returning to their previous goal properly after performing actions added in the last update

Fix for Vampire and Cannibal being able to Bite/Cannibalize from far away

Fix for NPCs like Gorilla and Jock attempting to use special attacks after being Zombified

Fix for NPCs sometimes having difficulty pathing to an elevator when the player asks or threatens them

Fix for Jock paying out fight to player when they had no money and no inventory space for a new money item, and other similar circumstances where the player receives money

Fix for NPCs in Movie Theaters sometimes walking around the theater instead of sitting

NPCs in gangs are better at avoiding Trains and Mine Carts. Previously, the one of them would stop for the Train, and then the others would bump into him and accidentally knock him into the train’s path

Drug Dealer can no longer receive Electro Touch when taking a Syringe during combat

Fix for NPCs yelling at online multiplayer clients with Malodorous and other similar traits as soon as they joined the game

Fix for Hacker and Thief being able to complete their “assist me” tasks immediately if they stopped doing them and then started again

Hacker and Thief who are in the player’s party as a result of Friend Phone, Loneliness Killer, etc. cannot be told to do their primary tasks multiple times

Performance

Hefty performance improvements during big fights

Cleared up some garbage collection performance issues

Pathfinding optimizations

Multiplayer

Fix for errors occurring if the player switched from keyboard to gamepad or back and then began an online multiplayer game

Internal

Work on final level

Alpha 55b

Fix for bullet weirdness in online multiplayer games

Alpha 55c (July 13)

Fix for level transition crash on multiplayer client

Fix for Butler Bot errors on multiplayer client

Fix for client side bullets sometimes appearing with just a light and no texture

Fix for infinite money exploit with new Investment system, and general reworking of how the system functions

Fix for certain Office Building sometimes being completely empty

Fix for ATM Machine button for “Spit Out Money” having incorrect text

Fix for Wrestler being assigned to challenge Shapeshifter to a fight

Fix for issues moving from level to level when using saved game from Alpha 54

Fix for Gorilla who was lunging sometimes continuing to shake after being Zombified

Fix for Hospital Clerk only taking 10 health instead of 20 when you give blood

Fix for mouse cursor picking up invisible icons on the Missions screen

Fix for Shapeshifter occasionally making an appearance during the tutorial

Water Pistol is worth a lot more money

Shrunk players can fit in Toilet, much like Diminutive

Player receives 2 Necronomicons as a reward instead of 1

Necronomicon is worth a bit less money, costs less to unlock, costs less in character creation and loadouts

Fix for some buttons appearing out of alphabetical order in the Mutators list

Fix for game not ending properly and potentially causing an “un-endable” game if the player tries to end the game while on their back, teleporting, falling into a hole, etc. Actually, you just get a message telling you to wait a second and do it again due to programmer incompetence

First off - To anyone who missed my dev stream last Sunday, you can view a replay of it on youtube. It was a lot of fun, and I'd like to do more of these when I get the chance. Maybe not for 6 hours straight, that might've been a bit excessive. But it was a really useful experience, and I found a whole bunch of new bugs in the process, many of which I've fixed for Alpha 54.

Also new to this build: New NPC behaviors, which I've gone over in the Artificial Intelligence section below. There was a Fortnight Discussion about this topic last July, and I FINALLY got around to implementing some of the behaviors that people suggested. There were a lot of great suggestions, and still plenty I'd like to add when I get another block of time for this.

Hey all, I’ll be doing a live stream of Streets of Rogue starting at 10:30 AM PST today June 24th! This is the very first live stream I’ve ever done, so expect complete and total competence in every sense!

The stream will probably last around 3-4 hours, unless I decide to marathon it. In which case, it’ll be done when I pass out and/or die.